Hybrid VS Tube

[tigercasual]

Hey Guys,

I've searched and read through a ton of threads and couldn't find any comparing/contrasting "hybrids" against all tube heads. I've heard some say that a hybrid maintains low end, and powers through the mix more than tube heads. Is this true? Is there anyone out there with a great deal of experience playing both?

 

[chadds]

It really depends on the style of music you play. It also depends on how large and dynamic and fat your bass sounds. Tube amps can enhance the sound of a passive P or J. A good active bass may sound so full that you only need SS to amplify your sound. Again genre is important. Sometimes the blurriness of tubes is an enhancement to the total band sound. Sometimes the clarity and presence of SS can fill the musical niche perfectly.
A hybrid can give you both the pretube tone and the clear ooomph that good SS can give in a mix. In another situation cooking pwr amp tubes are just what you need.
Speaker selection can bring out the best in an all tube head. One probably wants sealed cabs for their damping control. Whereas efficiency and power handling can bring out the best in a head with a SS power section.
Kapeche?

 

[Feast]

i just got an svt3pro and its hybrid.

it gets really gritty like tube, and in my opinion, its got the sound of a tube amp without the hassles .

IE. changing tubes, weight, price

 

[seamonkey]

Check out the new style hybrids - they are essentially a full tube amp, with a build in DI to an internal SS power amp. (just like taking a DI off the speaker to the front of the house)
Here's some I've heard about:
Tec Amp
http://www.tec-amp.de/

Warwick
http://www.warwickbass.com/amps/tubepath10-1.htm

Dave Hall
Link Removed

 

[bongomania]

I've heard some say that a hybrid maintains low end, and powers through the mix more than tube heads.

I've never heard that particular description before. Not once. Basically an all-tube head has a tube power section, while a hybrid head has a ss power section. They operate similarly when driven at levels that are below clipping. When you crank a tube power section though, you get more compression before it starts to sound "badly" distorted, and to many peoples' tastes it sounds good even once you are fully into distortion; whereas a ss power section will have much less compression before fully distorting, and most folks are not into the sound of ss power section distortion.

In all of that, you'll get different tonal qualities or "loudness" at different amounts of drive with different amounts of available wattage. But neither is inherently better for low end, or for cutting through a mix. It just depends on the mix, and how you are actually using and driving the amp.

 

[tigercasual]

So, Are you saying that- regardless whether or not you're running a bass preamp- the only way that you can maintain that sweet, dark territory where your amp is just starting to overdrive is if you are running a tube preamp with a tube power amp?

-By the way, thanks to everyone who's replied, so far...

 

[rodl2005]

So, Are you saying that- regardless whether or not you're running a bass preamp- the only way that you can maintain that sweet, dark territory where your amp is just starting to overdrive is if you are running a tube preamp with a tube power amp?

-By the way, thanks to everyone who's replied, so far...

For true power amp tube distortion/overdrive- YEP!!! IMHO U can't beat that. Ive Played MANY hybrid amps, owned a couple. I started my bass life playing all tube amps in the '70's. After owning a hybrid amp, a solid state amp(still got a LMII-nice for dbl bass!!! ) I've gone FULL CIRCLE because -to me- I cannot go past the sound of a all tube amp. Many disagree & LOVE all solid state amps & hybrid amps. IME- I head to turn the solid state powered amps(hybrids also) up WAY louder to get the SAME efffect as a tube amp at 1/3 the volume. For me- tube amps seem to be FAR punchier at lower volumes than S.S. . Also my Fender 300PRO(all tube 300w) was A?B'd next to an Ampeg SVT4PRO- bridged mono running at about 1200w The tube 300w KILLED it for sheer volume, AND sounded nicer as it went FAR louder & into lovely Overdrive too....but that was SO loud. I never have it past 3 or 4 (outta 10-doesnt go to 11 ) even at large gigs.
ALL this is IMHO/IME

 

[bongomania]

So, Are you saying that- regardless whether or not you're running a bass preamp- the only way that you can maintain that sweet, dark territory where your amp is just starting to overdrive is if you are running a tube preamp with a tube power amp?

Actually, on the contrary I was trying to indicate that there are a lot of variables, and the one that has the biggest impact is the way the amp is used. So a driven tube power section can be the way to that sound, but it's not the only route. Once you understand what is actually happening to your signal at the various stages, your options really open up for achieving those qualities. That's why I harped on the compression and distortion elements rather than ideas like retaining low end or cutting through a mix.

 

[A9X]

Actually, on the contrary I was trying to indicate that there are a lot of variables, and the one that has the biggest impact is the way the amp is used. So a driven tube power section can be the way to that sound, but it's not the only route. Once you understand what is actually happening to your signal at the various stages, your options really open up for achieving those qualities. That's why I harped on the compression and distortion elements rather than ideas like retaining low end or cutting through a mix.

I agree. The small poweramp idea has a lot of merit, and with the gain structure set right, you could probably get 90%+ of the tube poweramp overdrive tone at any level. Two other ideas I've seen implemented (but not done or heard myself) were to take a tap from the speaker terminals and mix it back into the preamp (not like NFB) and to use a tube as part of the NFB loop in a SS poweramp. An engineer I respect tried it and vas very impressed with the results. It's just too much work for me to get right so I can't be bothered.

There are many ways to skin the proverbial cat, and I wonder if they were compared A/B blind how many would prefer which. I remeber JimmyM's SX/Fender thread results.